Kent State Shootings

The shootings that occurred at Kent State University, Ohio, on May 4, 1970 have been a dark spot in American history for almost 36 years. It is a day remembered by many names, THE KENT STATE SHOOTINGS, MAY 4 or the KENT STATE MASSACRE. Four students were killed and nine were wounded, all of America suffered.

The student body at Kent State numbered about 20,000 and had been considered conservative, but not overly political. In fact they were thought of as rather passive politically. The shootings were a culmination of four days of demonstrations by members of the student body. The students were protesting the invasion of Cambodia by American forces.

In 1968 Richard Nixon was elected President. One of the promises he made was to end the Vietnam War. When the My Lai massacre was exposed in November of 1969 there was worldwide outrage and reduced public support for the war. Then a month later the first draft lottery was instituted since WWII. In April 1970, Nixon told the public he was going to withdraw large numbers of U.S. troops from Vietnam. So when he made his television address on April 30 to say we had invaded Cambodia the American people reacted strongly. In the speech Nixon addressed not only Cambodia but also the unrest on college campuses. Many young people, including college students, were concerned about the risk of being drafted, and the expansion of the war into another country appeared to increase that risk. Across the country protests on campuses became what Time magazine called “a nation-wide student strike.”

The day after his Cambodia speech Nixon told a crowd at the Pentagon:“You see these bums, you know, blowing up campuses. Listen, the boys that are on the college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities, and here they are burning up the books, storming around this issue.”

This “bums” statement, was quoted over and over and helped to fuel the fires of dissent that were already getting out of control on many campuses. The reactions to the speech and statement were swift and in most cases angry.

On May 1 1970 a massive demonstration was held at Kent State, on the Commons (a grassy area in the center of campus that is used as a gathering place for rallies) and another one was planned for May 4. The students were angry and there were many who were calling to “bring the war home.”

Around midnight some trouble started when drunken bikers left a bar and started to throw beer bottles at cars. They broke windows in the downtown area, one a bank window that set off an alarm. The news spread and several bars closed early to avoid trouble. Soon more people joined the vandalism and looting, while others stood by and watched. A crowd of about 100 had gathered by the time the police got there. They appeared to be a mix of bikers, students and out-of-town kids who often came to Kent’s bars. Some of them began throwing bottles at the police and the crowd shouted obscenities, it took about an hour for the police to restore order.

On Saturday May 2 Kent’s Mayor, Leroy Satrom declared a state of emergency and asked the Governor, James A. Rhodes, to send in the National Guard. A large demonstration was under way when the Guard arrived. The Army ROTC building had been set afire and over one thousand students had surrounded the building and were cheering the burning. The students threw rocks at the firemen and took one fire hose and slashed it. The National Guard set up camp directly on campus. Many arrests were made.

By Sunday May 3, there were nearly a thousand National Guardsmen on campus to control the students. The units that responded were ill trained and came right from riot duty elsewhere, they hadn’t had much sleep. During the day some students came into downtown Kent to help with the cleanup, they were met with mixed reactions from the local business men. The mayor ordered a curfew until further notice. About 8:00 p.m. another rally was held on the campus Commons. The Guard used tear gas to disperse the crowd by 8:45 p.m., but he students reassembled downtown and staged a sit-in, in hopes of getting a meeting with the Mayor. At 11:00 the curfew was enforced and the students went back to the dorms.

A protest that had